#Mind Optimization

[billsmithsposts]

Dopamine Genius -can lead to money

Silent brain epidemic keeps you broke Hidden brain drain silently stealing your success Silent wealth killer [Working against you since birth] Hi Folks They never told you about this. Not in school. Not in self-help books. Not in any “success blueprint” you’ve ever read. Yet it’s the real reason why most people stay stuck… no matter how hard they try. It’s invisible. It’s everywhere.…

[b0tster]

assigned 'export to fbx' to a hotkey after 15 years of selecting it from a dropdown menu

[incogcheetah]

Athena, you beautiful optimist. Your family tried to beat it out of you, and at first you flew away so you didn't get hurt again. But meeting these two loyal and honorable to a fault mortals makes you persist, you ask for Odysseus's freedom anyway just so he can make it home to his son and wife, just so he can spend his remaining years with them.

[kemsyne]

Wayfarer Prompt - Rock Bottom.

And then they went to Rona.

Wayfarer IF and the king of jokes Aeran Kellis are created by the one and only @idrellegames

[lenodrysalad]

"Eddie said he's straight! Buck said Eddie was straight! Buck said he's not in love with his best friend! They shut down Buddie in the show it isn't happening ya'll are delusional! Queerbait! Queerbait! Blah blah blah"

I feel like I'm going insane. I'm sure we're all tired of people shouting "media literacy" every five seconds, but like... Yeah, develop some media literacy, please.

I'm saying this as someone who doesn't usually like romance, despite being subjected to it in basically every piece of media. As someone who doesn't generally look for love stories. As someone who loved Buddie but didn't consider any serious possibility of it becoming canon before season 7/8, who refused to believe Buddie was truly happening until I couldn't deny it anymore: this episode is loud.

Please understand how narrative arcs work. How character arcs work. How character development works. How serial broadcast television works. Understand how writing works. Consider context; take the whole episode, the whole season, and the whole series into account instead of treating things like they exist in isolation.

I'm too tired to go through the step-by-step details of the episode to prove why these, "they said it on screen, therefore..." takes are shortsighted and ignorant; plenty of people have done that already.

But that episode, even if we do take it in isolation, is textbook. Do people really take everything characters say at face value? Do people not watch other character's reactions? Listen to what else is being said? Watch what is being shown? Consider the implications? Themes? Narrative devices?

Consider that maybe, just maybe, characters can be unreliable narrators, or believe something to be true only for that belief to change later. These things don't happen in one episode. There's such a thing as set-up, foreshadowing, the starting point of a plot. 911 is a serial drama, therefore it is going to have A) long-form story and character arcs, and B) drama.

Characters are not going to move in straight lines, or talk in therapy speak, or solve every problem in an hour. They are not always going to be right, or self-aware, or truthful, or rational. Direct dialogue does not equate to honest dialogue.

Also, saying, "well in real life, people do this, I do that, their feelings would be this, yadda yadda yadda" means nothing. Your experiences are not universal, and more importantly, this is a work of fiction. Realism is whatever the story says it is; it's going to do whatever creates the most dramatic, interesting, developmentally beneficial, or emotionally satisfying story. Whether you like that story or not is irrelevant to the fact that stories are not going to cater to all your expectations or real-world experiences.

To people pointing to Tim or the actor's interviews as "proof" they're shutting down Buddie: again, please understand how broadcast television works. They are not going to tell us everything that's going to happen before it happens. They are going to play the neutral zone, the "wait and see," the "will they/won't they." They are going to lie. That is television production 101. You can compare what they've said in the past with canon and list all the contradictions, misdirection, and twists you didn't see coming because they didn't spoil it for you. Watch the show. That is the canon.

They're also not catering to fandom--people they already know are devoted to the show, familiar with Buddie, and consistently tuning in. They're introducing the idea of Buddie to the general audience, people who likely haven't considered the possibility before. The GA has to see that Buddie is an option, so the show needs to manifest it as if it's a brand new concept. This episode pulled the pin on that grenade in a very obvious way; the idea that Buck could be in love with Eddie and that Eddie could not be straight has been planted. The next seed will be Eddie's feelings. Now the show needs to water it and let it grow.

One last thing. Been seeing a fair amount of hand-wringing and condescension over people interpreting this episode differently. As if this is some sort of "gotcha" for bad writing, baiting, or people being stupid. Listen, genuine complaints about this show's writing aside, different interpretations or inferences are completely normal. This isn't unique. That is how people interact with stories, through personal biases, experiences, emotions, and expectations. That isn't inherently a bad thing. It's totally fine to have your own views; media is all about interpretation.

However, it is also true that just because you have an interpretation, that doesn't make it true. Not all interpretations are equal in their validity, evidence, or warrants. The show has an intention, it has a story in mind. If you don't see it, sure, that could be a failure of the writing, but it could also very well be a failure of your analysis, especially when the show hasn't finished telling the story. Looking at one thing in isolation and forming your whole conclusion based around that makes for poor critique.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right.

[switch]

this horse can fit so much horse on it

[sugusoko]

OLD MAN GLASSES OLD MAN GLASSES

[thepersonalwords]

Nothing can disturb your peace of mind unless you allow it to.

Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

[mqmotivate]

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine. —Morris West

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

My (crack) theory is that Inho studied the footage from the last time Ginhu played, especially EVERYTHING Sangwoo did wrong and then did it ALL right to mess with Ginhu.

Sangwoo was out for himself (which got more and more obvious), while Inho was always supportive, even "playing" the bad guy during the second voting, so Ginhu wouldn't get hated on by the other players. He was always looking out for all the women and elderly, even saving his friend during the mingle game.

Youngil's death will haunt Ginhu, and then make him question it all once he finds out the truth.

(If the show is as crazy as I think it is, it will be Ginhu vs Inho in the last game, probably by design of the VIPs to make things more exciting and also to test Inho's loyalty. Inho will play for his brother's life, while Ginhu will play for the lives of the remaining players).

I can absolutely see that as realistic! Especially the aspect of In-ho being an "anti-Sang-woo" in some ways. Sang-woo became more obviously self-interested over the course of the games, culminating in open antagonism between him and Gi-hun, one of his oldest friends. In-ho most certainly would have noted how much trust Gi-hun placed in Sang-woo because of their relationship, and what actions on Sang-woo's part had broken that trust.

That's why, where Sang-woo voted to continue and never spoke to Gi-hun about it, In-ho approached him to explain his reasoning. Sang-woo figured out that the game would be Dalgona and chose not to tell Gi-hun, but In-ho informed the team of the final number for Merry-Go-Round. Sang-woo verbally berated a man grieving the loss of his wife, whereas In-ho physically defended a weaker player from two bullies.

Most critically, Sang-woo became more distant from Gi-hun over the course of the games, pairing himself with Ali over Gi-hun and refraining from sharing his thoughts. He solidified his own belief that he had to continue until Gi-hun couldn't convince him otherwise, culminating in his murder of Sae-byeok. But In-ho deliberately opens up more the longer the games go on, sharing the story of why he is (and really was) in the games. They work together throughout all the games. He allows Gi-hun to "win" and convince him that the games must be stopped, and when the vote comes down to him again, he votes X; he even saves Gi-hun's life by shooting the guards. He builds trust in all the ways that Sang-woo had destroyed it.

And yet it's still not enough for Gi-hun to choose him as his partner for the control room breach--Gi-hun, unlike last time, chooses his old friend over his new teammate. Based on his reaction (tensing his jaw and a tongue pulse), I don't believe In-ho expected this; he'd anticipated his groundwork would have been sufficient to win Gi-hun's trust, despite Jung-bae not betraying him as Sang-woo had.

In this, we can see that perhaps Gi-hun is more complex than In-ho had expected. In-ho seems to view him, as Sang-woo did, as simple-minded and naïve, "delusional" to think that trust and relationships mean anything, or that people are good. But by trusting Jung-bae, Gi-hun got much closer to the control room than he likely would have had In-ho come with him. Gi-hun placed his trust in the person who wouldn't betray him, like he did with Sae-byeok, and because of that, he almost succeeded; In-ho's betrayal would have failed, just as Sang-woo's did.

But whereas Sang-woo was just a contestant, on an (ostensibly) "fair" playing field, In-ho--like the 001 before him, Oh Il-nam--has the system behind him. So he too was able to fake his own death, and once again leave Gi-hun with "innocent" blood on his hands. Then, like Sang-woo did, he betrays Gi-hun and kills the friend that was trusted more than him--except this time he does it without destroying their relationship, because Gi-hun doesn't know who he is. And he makes Gi-hun watch. He succeeds in every way Il-nam did, and in every way Sang-woo had failed.

But while mostly In-ho parallels Il-nam and represents the "anti-Sang-woo," there is one thing he and Sang-woo share which might redeem him at the end. Although he helped Gi-hun survive the games, Il-nam ultimately wanted him to fail. He spends his last moments hoping and believing that Gi-hun had lost: that it was foolish and pointless to trust in humanity's goodness. Sang-woo, on the other hand, actively fights against Gi-hun at the conclusion of the games; but at the last, Sang-woo saw that Gi-hun was right--or at least that he himself was wrong--and kills himself to allow Gi-hun to live. He wanted Gi-hun to win.

And so does In-ho.

Buried within In-ho is a desire to be proven wrong that Il-nam did not share. Some part of him, which he has not yet accepted, wants Gi-hun to be right. If he can accept it before the end--if he can become less of Il-nam and a little more Sang-woo--perhaps it will be enough for him to become himself again.

[realtapiocafan]

oh shemar. why didn't you have more sacks.

[swearingcactus]

Cassandra, and literally everyone in the Inquisition: the Champion of Kirkwall?! The guy who saved Kirkwall from Qunari invasion by agreeing to SINGLE COMBAT with the Arishok? Who was there day ONE of the mage-templar rebellion? A man among men, with wit and charm beyond parallel, AND the man who has KILLED Corypheus ONCE before; he's COMING to HELP us?!!?

The Champion of Kirkwall in Skyhold:

[transgenderfivepebbles]

the expectation for the meaning of existence

[golden-letters]

i actually feel driven. like i want to live life. i haven't felt this in so long and i've missed this so much. suddenly i know believers' feelings of adoration, of the need to worship and praise God. suddenly i see enough blessings in my life to feel grateful for the unknown. i wish i would stay like this forever.

[boy-warbler]

Todmorden Mills. 2024